Civil unrest worsens in Bangladesh

Bangladesh burned and bled Thursday, with dozens killed in clashes between security forces, pro-government groups and student protesters, and buildings set ablaze by agitators – the deadliest civil unrest in the country in more than a decade.

Hospital authorities confirmed to BenarNews that 19 people were killed and hundreds more injured Thursday, the most violent day of a week in which seven people already lost their lives. Agence France-Presse reported a higher toll of 25 deaths.

Other than those out on the streets, the entire country shut down on Thursday, after students in favor of ending quotas for government jobs called for such a closure to protest what they alleged were unprovoked attacks by police and members of the student wing of the ruling Awami League.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowds, with hospital sources confirming such injuries. Amid the clashes, unidentified people set several buildings on fire, including the state broadcaster, police posts and a train station.

Fire service officials reported at least 25 incidents of arson at government building complexes around the country over two days, with Dhaka being the worst hit. 

Thursday’s violence claimed two journalists’ lives, and more than 100 members of the media were injured across the country, a group called Dhaka Reporters Unity said in a statement.

Hasan Mehedi, 25, a reporter at online news site Dhaka Times, was killed when a bullet struck his head Thursday evening, the site’s editor, Arifur Rahman Dolon, told BenarNews.

The second press victim was the Daily Bhorer Awaj’s Gazipur correspondent Shakil Hossain, a statement from the journalists group said.

NetBlocks, a group that tracks internet connectivity and democracy, said Bangladesh was seeing a “near-total national internet shutdown” on Thursday night. 

“[T]he new measure follows earlier efforts to throttle social media and restrict mobile data services, and comes amid reports of rising deaths at student protests,” NetBlocks said in a post on X.

Authorities temporarily halted mobile internet services due to the unstable situation created by the protests, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, minister of posts, telecommunications, and information technology, said Thursday.

University students nationwide began protesting in early July after the High Court last month reinstated a quota that reserves 30% of civil service jobs for relatives of those who fought in the 1971 war that resulted in Bangladesh’s independence. 

The reinstatement came at a time when Bangladesh’s economy is in the doldrums and employment opportunities are scarce. 

At least 400,000 students graduate every year from Bangladesh universities. And according to official data from 2023, 39% of 15- to 24-year-olds, or 12.2 million youth, are without jobs and not at school or university either. 

Students allege the quotas are discriminatory and favor those who support the administration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party. 

On July 11, a Supreme Court order suspended these quotas for a month. But that didn’t mollify the protesting students. Such a decision, they said, must be made by the government.

But what really made the students furious was when Hasina on Sunday likened those who are against quotas for war veterans’ families to people who collaborated with Pakistan during Bangladesh’s war of independence. 

After violence earlier in the week claimed seven lives, Hasina addressed the nation on Wednesday, saying that the top court was dealing with the quota issue and Bangladeshis would “not be disappointed.”

She urged patience and accused groups with vested interests of stoking anger.

‘A new farce’

After a meeting with Hasina earlier in the day, Law Minister Anisul Huq on Thursday afternoon offered to hold talks with protesting students in an effort to suspend their agitation. 

“The government has, in principle, agreed to reform the quota system. …We will sit with the protesters whenever they agree and, if they want, it may be today,” the minister said.

He also offered to advance to Sunday a Supreme Court hearing on the quota policy scheduled for Aug. 7.

Protesters rejected this offer, saying the government needed to deal with the consequences of unprovoked aggression against them.

“By resorting to violence against a peaceful movement, the government has created an unprecedented situation. It is the government’s responsibility,” Nahid Islam, one of the coordinators of the movement, said in a Facebook post.

Quota reform alone will not be enough to resolve the crisis now, he wrote.

“At first, using the judiciary, the government did not heed the demand, and law enforcers and party cadres tried to suppress the movement,” he said. 

“[N]ow a new farce is being played out in the name of addressing [our] demands and in the name of dialogue.”

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.